1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a print image generation device, a print system, a print image generation method and a program for printing metadata of a photographed image (digital photograph).
2. Related Art
When a photographed image taken with a digital camera or the like is entered into a contest or displayed at an exhibition as a work, various kinds of information such as the title of the photographed image, the name of the photographer, equipment information and exposure information need to be added to the image of the work and presented to the organizer of the contest or exhibition. Traditionally, many users handwrite such information. However, since the volume of such information is large and there is also a risk of written errors, a technique of printing various kinds of information, using image information (Exif information) recorded with image data of a photographed image at the time of photographing, is proposed recently.
For example, a method is proposed in which image data of a photographed image and image information that is metadata thereof are printed in areas provided next to each other without overlapping with each other (for example, Japanese Patent No. 4,560,430). Also, a method in which image information is printed, superimposed on image data (for example, JP-A-2004-222108), and a method in which an index image is printed on the back side of a print sheet where image data is printed (for example, JP-A-2007-158536) are proposed as well.
However, in the method of Japanese Patent No. 4,560,430, since image information is printed next to image data, there is a problem of wasting sheets. Particularly, since expensive sheets are often used as print sheets for entry or exhibition, it is preferable to reduce the waste as much as possible. Also, many print sheets of this type are relatively thick. Therefore, if such a print sheet is cut and attached to the back side of the work, the work becomes partly thick, making the framing difficult. That is, depending on the type of the frame (rabbet or rebate depth), the attached part may not fall inside the rabbet of the frame and troublesome processing such as thickness adjustment by rabbet depth extension processing may be needed.
The method of JP-A-2004-222108 cannot be applied to works for entry or exhibition because image information is printed, superimposed on image data. In the case of the method of JP-A-2007-158536, since image information is printed on the back side of image data, there is a risk of damage to the work due to scratches formed by the conveyance of the sheet at the time of printing. There is also a problem that, with a sheet with a soft print surface (for example, a sheet coated with plaster or the like), printing cannot be done on the back side (for example, the plaster may be stripped off by the conveyance).